(Reuters) – U.S.-listed shares of Didi Global Inc slumped 12% in premarket trading on Friday after a report that the ride-hailing firm had suspended preparations for its Hong Kong listing due to its failure to meet China’s conditions on handling sensitive user data.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) told Didi executives that their proposals to prevent security and data leaks had fallen short, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company and its bankers have halted work on the Hong Kong listing by way of introduction originally slated for around the summer of this year, according to the report.
Didi did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Didi, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2021 at $14 apiece, has lost three quarters of its value after becoming a subject of a data-related cybersecurity investigation days after its IPO.
Just five months after listing its shares, Didi announced a U.S. delisting plan in favor of a Hong Kong listing, succumbing to Beijing’s regulatory tightening.
The company reported a drop in quarterly revenue in December after its apps were taken down from mobile app stores amid a CAC investigation into its handling of customer data.
(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Anil D’Silva)
